Craig Hawkins

Craig Hawkins – Forest Seahorses and Creation

Jun 19, 2024
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Ministry Profile: Craig Hawkins  

Creation Research Ministry Champion

Point Baptist Pastor, Craig Hawkins writes about his life, his love for nature and how dreams of opening a Creation Museum has now become a reality. Read on to find out . . .

Early YEARS

My Father and Mother moved to Orange, NSW to plant a new church there for the Churches of Christ movement, and that is where I was born. Before I was six, we had moved to Gladstone, Queensland because there was a plan to close the church there, but my parents felt led to help keep it open. Praise God it is still operating to this day. These are the things remembered by young minds. My dad sold vacuum cleaners and my mum sold encyclopedias to keep the pantry stocked as I remember very few people came to the church at first and sometimes our family were the only ones who turned up.  

Gladstone was fun to grow up in. A tough place in the 1970’s, as a coal port and aluminium smelter. We remember the excitement of someone being shot across the road from our house one night, although apparently, they survived, I’m not certain though as I was only about eight years old. One school excursion we went to the Hoop Pine forests west of Gladstone and I loved it. It was here that my passion to work in the forests was born. After five years, the church was going well enough for dad to be called to plant a new church in Maitland, NSW. This is where I spent my high school years, letting off competitive steam playing cricket and hockey. 

Keeping Faith and Science

Neither dad nor mum were much into science, but they were very early supporters of the Creation Science Foundation and I remember having John Mackay and Ken Ham come to dinner as a 15-year old. I became very interested in how science and the Bible fit together, and I am sure that this helped me keep my faith whilst completing a science degree at the Australian National University in Canberra. Years later I would reconnect with John and am now working full-time with him at Creation Research. 

University and beyond

During my university years, I was lucky enough to get a Cadetship with the NSW Forestry Commission and spent an amazing field year working across NSW in some wild areas. I met a wide range of interesting Aussie characters and learned to always connect with a local country church. What a great way to learn the importance of hospitality within the Body of Christ as many people warmly welcomed me into their homes for meals and fellowship. The practical experience in the bush helped me to do well finishing off the degree.  

My first professional posting was in the beautiful country town of Gloucester, NSW working in the Barrington Tops region. The forest wars were in full swing at the time, and we had various incidents to deal with. I particularly enjoyed the training in wildlife research and spent many hours surveying forest owls, large forest gliders, koalas, bats and many other creatures.  

Craig and Rachelle
Spotlight Surveys Lead to Rachelle

One night in the mountains we were conducting a track-line spotlight survey when we spotted some rare Parma wallabies further up the track. We were stopped and looking at them, when suddenly they began hopping down the track towards us. One after the other they bumped into the stationary vehicle before hurtling off into the dense undergrowth. No wonder they are endangered, I thought. However, it was while doing spotlight surveys that I discovered a very good way to get close to that special girl. I had invited Rachelle and a couple of her friends out to survey wildlife out in the middle of nowhere. In the pitch-black darkness, all of a sudden, a pack of dingo’s started howling a short distance away. She clung to me tightly. 

Rachelle finished her science degree at the University of Newcastle while I was working in Sydney as the departmental liaison officer for the Minister of Land and Water. However, the city life was not for this country boy and after getting married in early 1997 we moved to Tasmania so I could work with a private forestry company.  

point Baptist

Rachelle did a postgraduate degree in Aquaculture and became the first biologist for the Seahorse farm which we now own. We attended Newstead Baptist and loved our years there before moving to Beauty Point with the new business in 2002. 

The Lord has directed our paths and Proverbs 3:5-6 is a very special verse for us especially as we manoeuvred through difficult early years in the business. This passage would be the best advice I have ever received.  

Eventually, I had to make a decision to either leave forestry or close the business as it had become too difficult to do both. By this time, I had a senior position with the Forest Practices Authority and loved the work. It needed the clearest direction I had ever had from the Lord to make me leave the profession. I am thankful that I heeded that direction. 

While in Beauty Point it became quickly obvious how neglected the area was with Christian outreach. My parents had moved to the area to be close to their grandchildren and the decision was made, with dad’s church planting experience behind us, to begin what is now the Point Baptist Church.  

We have six children, four boys and two girls. Our oldest son Damon also loves the outdoors and completed a forestry degree. He is married to Isabelle and lives in Queensland. All the others are still at home with two at UTAS and the youngest three at Launceston Christian School. 

seahorses and museumS

The Seahorse business is now going well, having survived some very difficult times through COVID and I have refocused my full efforts into the Creation Discovery Centre and wider Creation Research ministry. Rachelle and I both had a dream of opening up a Creation Museum to show how real science supports the Biblical account of history and it has now become a reality. It has already provided an extraordinary number of witnessing opportunities. 

We are also encouraged by the church’s recent growth. There is much to be done but we have a lovely congregation with many lives changed and growing in the Lord. Tasmania is a wonderful place to live with great people and away from the rat race of the big cities of the mainland.

Craig Hawkins - with Crinoid fossil from Africa
Craig with a Crinoid fossil from Africa for the Creation Discovery Centre
Pray For… 

Please pray for our church and our area which needs an even stronger Christian witness and the Creation Discovery Centre and the many un-churched it reaches. 

Craig Hawkins

Short ‘n’ Sweet

I am looking forward to. . . growing the Creation Discovery Centre God-willing.

I am worried about. . . not diligently doing what God wants me to do.   

I am confident that. . . Jesus has all things under His control.

I am joyful about. . . watching my family grow.

I would like to change. . . the impact of false science leading people away from Jesus.

I am at my best. . . when practically engaged in the things I love.


Craig Hawkins

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